Building Presence: Developing Influence

Rhian Bowler / 02 May 2018

Building bridges to the right people along your career path “How to win friends and influence people” – there’s something to be said for that when it comes to career progression but first you need to know who to influence. The E2W Career Coach explains how.

Do you sometimes feel overlooked? Are there people within your organisation who need to know who you are in order for you to progress?

During the recent E2W Front Office event, one group discussed increased visibility: how can I increase my visibility and create a ‘getting to know me campaign’? So why is it important to raise your profile at work, and how can it be achieved?

According to a recent Harvard Business Review article, men tend to use language like ‘achieving results’, and refer to ‘competition’, whereas women talk about ‘influencing others’ and the ability ‘to shape ideas and agendas’. It is well known that most women are good at building relationships in the workplace, and there are ways to exploit this to develop the breadth and depth of your influence to achieve your goals. The Relationship or Stakeholder Map is a useful tool to identify and manage your key stakeholders.

Creating your Relationship/ Stakeholder Map

Firstly, you will need to define your goals, and how you aim to achieve them;
Start with a blank sheet of paper/ whiteboard and capture the key names of those who will be involved in you reaching your goal;
Identify who are the key influencers; both formal and informal
Who are the potential blockers to your progress, and why? Do your goals clash?
You will already know to identify your sponsors and mentors, but you should also identify your ‘agents’ and ‘truth tellers’.
- o Agents - They are likely to be close to you and already promoting your value, but they do need nurturing.
- o Truth tellers – They will tell you exactly as it is, the truth may hurt, but it will provide you with nuggets of feedback to improve your presence or chances of promotion.
Your org chart or map of people will emerge. Who and where are the key people?

Using the Map

Your strategy should then be to focus time and relationship building on the main influencers - you may be surprised by some of the results!

This visual exercise will provide a map for you to navigate and ‘build bridges’ to the decision makers. This may come through networking, collaborating on a project or simply going for a coffee to learn more about their area of the business and what they care about.

So why should you invest time developing your Stakeholder Map?

Enables you to navigate office politics, using your time and efforts to meet key influencers.
Provides a way to build and promote your value and worth.
Focuses your time and energy to achieve your goals.

If you would like some support creating your Stakeholder Map, the E2W Coach Rhian Bowler is here to help. Please contact Rhian.bowler@e2w.co for more information.

Back to blog

Women in Financial Services Blog

Building Presence: Developing Influence